Of Frogs and Ice Cream
by Moon Gibbs Potter
Summary: James and Gabriel had never met before. In fact, when they met, they hated each other! But all that changed with an offer, a bucket, and frogs. Set in my RiverWater!Series. This is a backstory about the muggle United States President and the Mage-in-Chief, respectively. One-shot for right now. If I get enough requests, I'll make it a mini-story.


A/N: So this is the back story for James Renard and Gabriel Nicholson. If you don't know these two, I am ordering you to read my story, **Trickling River**!

Disclaimer: I don't own HP or NCIS. However, I own Renard and Nicholson.

* * *

"But, Mommy, I'm a big boy now!" James protested to his mom. He didn't need his Mommy to help him with tying his shoes. He could do it himself.

Marianne stepped back from helping her son do his shoes. She clasped her hands in front of her. Sometimes she wished that her husband's job didn't need to take him across the world, much as she loved him and the community that came with the job. Their son had a hard enough job as it was, adjusting to a different school in a different base every few months or so.

And her son was going to actually, in a long time, go to school on the first day. What a relief.

"I'm all done, Mommy. See it?" He pointed proudly at his newly tied shoes, haphazardly tied with several different knots.

Marianne sighed.

"Here, let Mommy tie it for you today, okay? It doesn't look like it's tied right, and Daddy can show you how to tie you shoes again tonight when he comes home."

James then took a good look at his shoes and frowned. He had tied his shoes all by himself and he was proud of it too, but maybe Mommy was right. Maybe she should tie it for him.

"Okay," he agreed. And he let her tie his shoes. His thoughts wandered. Today he was going to school on the first day. Usually he came into the school during the middle of the year, so he didn't make any best friends. But, his expression brightened, he was going to make a best friend today!

James's mom felt inexplicably happy for some reason. She grimaced.

"James, how many times have I told you to control your empathy senses! It could get you in trouble at school, especially if you lose control like you just did right now," Marianne scolded her son.

James hung his head low. "I'm sorry, Mommy, I'm jus' really, really, _really _excited to go to a reg'lar school!"

She attempted to be stern. "Be that as it may, you have to learn how to reign in your senses." Then Marianne looked at the clock in the kitchen. "Oh, dear, we only have ten minutes to get to school. Let's go, James, I'll walk you to school just for today, okay?"

"'Kay," James agreed.

When they reached the school, Marianne placed her hand on his right shoulder and crouched down to look at him at eye level.

"Look, James, I just want you to be happy here, at this school. You can do that for Mommy, right?" She asked her son, looking at his eyes.

His statement reassured her. "Mommy, I'm jus' gonna be alright. I'm goin' to be friends with my bes' friend today!"

She studied her son carefully. After a few seconds, she acquiesced. Marianne watched her son run into the classroom where she hoped he would meet his " bes' friend." She sincerely hoped that he would make a best friend this time around.

* * *

James ran into his classroom and was immediately assailed by the excited chatter from the kids already there. He could smell the faint scent of pencil shavings and newly opened jars of paint. He spotted a raven-haired boy lingering by the blocks. Maybe I'll go over there and ask 'im to play wit' me, James thought happily.

He walked over to the boy. He held out his hand for the boy to shake it.

"Hi, my name's James. What's yours?" He waited patiently for the boy to speak up.

The boy looked up and shook his hand tentatively.

"My name's Gabriel."

"Do you want to play wit' the blocks wit' me?" James asked.

Gabriel agreed to. "'Kay."

While they were both playing with blocks, both boys were delighted to learn that both their fathers were in different branches of the military. Soon after both boys learning the fact that both their dads were different, the bell rang for class. Everyone in the classroom ran to their seats with their names on it.

The teacher introduced herself as Ms. Karen. She explained that this year in first grade, they were all going to be learning about math, reading, and science. They would also go on a field trip to the nearby San Diego Zoo later in the year and have an end-of-the-year party for all the grades, up to eighth grade.

As of right now, the teacher explained, since it was back to school week, the school teachers and principal had all arranged a Back-to-School Party for the kids to meet and mingle with all the other kids.

James was seated next to a rather big boy. He had a bird's nest as hair, several if there was any indication, piled on top of his head and he had a button nose. His lips looked permanently pursed as if in deep thought. Since it was coloring time, James reached over to grab an orange crayon.

But the boy stopped him from grabbing it, saying, "You can't do that! That's mine! Mine, mine, mine!"

Shocked, James tried to reason with the boy. "But Ms. Karen says that you 'ave to share! She says so."

"Yeah, well, she's not the boss, I am!" Then the boy punched him in the shoulder. "My Daddy's a Marine Recon, and he teached me how to do that ta people I don' like. An' I don't like you!"

James stayed put on the ground where he fell. He was hurt and confused that someone would do such a thing to him. He slowly got up, raised his hand, and asked Ms. Karen if he could go to the bathroom.

"Teacher Karen, can I go to the baffroom?"

"Of course, James, here's the hall pass." The teacher handed him the hall pass.

James thanked her and tried to walk quickly to the bathroom, but he soon got lost in the maze of corridors that made up the school. He nearly started to cry, when he spotted the same boy he had made friends with earlier.

"Gabriel, Gabriel, why are you here?"

Gabriel responded. "I got sent to the office to gets some more paper for Ms. Karen. She needs 'em. I saw what Marc did ta ya. It wasn' right."

James, blinded by the familiar feelings of anger and hurt, took a step towards Gabriel. He misinterpreted Gabriel's words. Unknowingly, his empathy senses fanned out from his body and influenced the surrounding area. That also included Gabriel.

"If you say one bad thing 'bout my Daddy, I'll, I'll tell the teacher!" James yelled at Gabriel in the hallway.

The normally composed and charismatic young boy flushed with anger. He didn't know why, but he was angry. Really angry. And he didn't like the way the other boy was standing. He was angling to fight with James.

"Yeah, well, I'm not sayin' bad things 'bout your Daddy. But if you say bad things 'bout my Daddy, you're gonna be real sorry!"

James tried a different tact. All he wanted was to get into a fist fight with the boy.

"You're goin' be more sorrier for saying that 'bout my Daddy! My Daddy's better than yours!" James said triumphantly.

Gabriel scowled. "My Daddy's an Army Off'cer Pilot. He's a Colonel so he's better than yours!"

"Oh, yeah? Well my Daddy's a Marine Intell'gence Off'cer and he's a Master Gunn'ry Sergeant. He always goes on secret missions, 'cause he's that important!" James retorted.

Gabriel growled. The situation would have been extremely funny if there weren't two little boys about to go head to head in a fight for their dads' honor. Luckily for them, the school's secretary was walking out of the school office when she heard a distinct yell. She walked quickly toward the sound and found two young boys scuffling. She efficiently tore the boys apart, holding each by their wrists firmly.

"You two are coming with me! We're going to visit the principal." She said, going back to the office.

* * *

The two boys sullenly waited outside the principal's office, each refusing to speak to each other. Their parents and teacher had been called, explaining the situation. The teacher trusted the principal to make the right choice in disciplining the children, and the parents promised their own punishment.

"Come in, boys." Came from inside the principal's office.

Gabriel and James each walked as stiffly as possible as they could to the seats offered to them. When they sat, they still outright refused to look at each other. The principal sighed. He hated doing this part of his job.

"Now, would either of you boys like to explain to me why my secretary found you two fighting outside my office? Hmmm?"

Still no answer. Perhaps a different tactic needed to be used.

"No? Then I'll just have to tell your fathers, I suppose."

James and Gabriel jumped out of their seats in unison, each in their heads thinking horrific thoughts of what would happen if the phone call should ever occur.

"No! Don't tell my Daddy please!" Both of them pleaded with the principal.

The principal pretended to consider doing so. Then she agreed.

"Tell me what happened then."

So the two boys told her exactly what happened and how the fight happened. The principal nearly chuckled throughout the boys' narrative. And after they were done telling her what had gone on, she told them they were both going to go home as punishment for fighting inside the school halls.

So the boys went home, still glaring at each other, both not understanding that their animosity was going to last the rest of the year.

And it went on like that, James playing with someone else if Gabriel came over to play with the same toys. Gabriel had many friends and was extremely friendly with the teachers. Even though Gabriel was friendly with everyone and played with everyone, he didn't have a best friend. James, however, was quiet. He only played with a few people, and those kids were the same ones he was close to. Like Gabriel, James didn't have a best friend either.

So both boys were absolutely miserable with the situation, until the end-of-the-school-year party.

* * *

The smell of freshly baked pizza and sweet scent of ice cream traveled all around the school field. Kids, big and small, were all running around the area, either holding eggs or water balloons. By the playground, doughnuts with ropes attached to them hung from the top of the swings, and several junior high kids were attempting to eat them without using their hands. Over by basketball courts, many boys were playing dodge ball, and the winners got to dump a bucket of murky lukewarm water on the losers, while the losers got to dump refreshing cold water on the winners since it was a rather hot day.

But behind the cafeteria were several gallons of cold unopened ice cream, sitting there ready to be served soon. Gabriel, out of curiosity after coming out of the bathrooms, walked over there to see what it was that he spotted. When he found the ice cream buckets, he became excited.

Maybe I'll jus' eat somma the ice cream, thought Gabriel. And so he did. Soon after eating the ice cream with his bare hands, he quickly went back to the bathrooms to wash his hands cleanly. He came back and surveyed the area with interest. He saw an opportunity to prank Marc, since the boy had harassed several of his classmates over the year. He looked around. Darn it, Gabriel thought dejectedly. There's nothin' ta put in the bucket.

Then he spotted James. He wrinkled his nose in disgust. He turned to walk away from James, but then he got an idea.

"Hey, James, wanna help me prank Marc?" Gabriel yelled out to James. He was willing to work with James and put aside their differences if he could prank Marc for all the bullying he had done over the year.

James swung his head to the right and saw Gabriel.

"Really?" James asked warily. He still held a wariness from the fight they had earlier in the year.

"Yeah, really. Dontcha wanna get back at Marc?"

"Um..." James thought about it for a minute, looking thoughtfully at the ceiling.

"Ok."

Gabriel grinned.

"Then here's what we need ta do..."

* * *

Gabriel and James quickly scurried across to the other side of the cafeteria and stood in line for lunch. The cafeteria had just opened, and they had placed a bucket near where they had guessed where Marc was going to sit at. The lunch line moved quickly, and each boy got their slice of pizza and cup of ice cream. They both sat nearby where Marc was. They saw him wolf down the pizza slice and gulp the ice cream. They looked at each other. If there were correct, Marc was going to want to eat some more food. Gabriel helped speed up the process of acquiring more food for him.

"Hey, Rolls! Look, there's ice cream un'erneath your feet!" Gabriel yelled at him.

Marc sneered at Gabriel. He hated that nickname that was given to him by his classmates. "Hey look, Brion, it's Lefty Gabie!"

Gabriel winced perceptibily. Ever since Marc had decided that "Gabriel" wasn't his name, he gifted Gabriel with a new name, Lefty Gabie, since he was a lefty in sports and writing.

Brion, Marc's so-called best friend, sniggered into his cup. Then he looked down, curious to see if there really was ice cream under Marc's feet.

"Marc, look, there's ice cream!" Brion whispered as Marc was yelling insults to Gabriel and James. Brion poked Marc hard in the stomach.

"Ow, what was that for, Brion?"

"Look!"

Marc slowly followed his gaze, his eyes gleaming when he saw an ice cream bucket, chilled and unopened, sittiing at his feet. He soon forgot about Gabriel and James as he reached to open the bucket and eat the ice cream with his bare hands. When he opened the bucket and had already scooped out several handfuls of ice cream, something wiggled in the chunk he held. Marc could only stare at his hand when three slightly annoyed frogs jumped from out of the ice cream and onto his shirt.

"Ahhhhhhhh!"

The people in the cafeteria tried to ignore the boy that was yelling. After all, it was just a first grader, and first graders always were a whiny bunch. But they still looked over at the boy to see what was happening.

"There's a lotta frogs in my ice cream an' they jumped onta ma shirt!" Marc was by now running toward the doors, to run outside and possible and get the frog off of him.

The crowd resumed eating. They had seen no frogs, thus the entertainment was over.

Meanwhile, Gabriel and James looked at each and smiled wickedly. Their plan had worked. They were lucky to find several small and medium sized frogs hanging out by one of the ponds in the school and quickly grabbed it and carefully placed it in the ice cream. Excited by their getting away with the prank, James and Gabriel did a fist pump under the table.

What they saw happen to Marc however, would forever be sealed in their minds. They had worked together despite their previous animosity. And in that moment, Gabriel and James shared a secret smile with each other. They were friends, no longer enemies. They would be the best of friends, each silently thought. No matter what would happen, they would always be. And all it took was frogs and ice cream.

* * *

A/N: Okay, I am terribly sorry that I haven't updated in... three weeks? *hides behind chair* It's just that, after my trip, I had water polo conditioning to go to (four hours in the morning and two in the evening for a total of six hours everyday) and school stuff to sign and whatnot, so yeah. And then I had to get used to my school schedule again, staying at my school from six in the morning until six thirty at night (again because of water polo). So no free time to write for the last three weeks.

And I promise to write several chapters in advance for **Trickling River**and I'll probably post them around Halloween or Thanksgiving. No promises on any earlier chapters, though. Like I said, I hardly have any free time. Just typing right now, I have two very long and hard essays due tomorrow. So you guys should be thankful at least that I came out with something at least.

Well, hope you guys enjoy this while I go and try to post more chapters for my story.

See you in about... two months, or less!

Moon G. Potter


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